$1100 a QSO?

“Dollaradio Station – 100 North Palmetto Avenue, San Francisco – Built about 1926, In order that Captain Robert Dollar could communicate with his steamship line. In 1927, the station received the first word from Admiral Byrd of his establishment of a camp on the Bay of Whales, Antarctica.” – from The Pacifica Historical Society

The final nail in my Elecraft K-Line’s Coffin was being 2 away from Top of Honor Roll and with no new ATNO possibilities for a year – probably two (in my estimation). I wanted in one radio what I had in my K3 Plus SDRPlay RSP2Pro. That is exactly what I got in the Icom IC-7610 – and quite a bit more. One thing that the rig has is a built in SD Card reader / writer and audio recorder – and I will be using it a lot more than I expected. Here is a great example – using the NCC-2 and two Wellbrook phased loops – just by turning the PHASE knob in the AM BCB band (1300 khz) – I can tune in a Chinese speaking station – then an Indian speaking station – and then I go back and forth. [As an aside – look at how multi-cultural we are now – I can tune across my local AM band and hear Cantonese, Mandarin, several Indian dialects, Spanish and English]

Having several thousand dollars invested in an amplifier and high powered auto tuner makes no sense – because since all I will be doing is having the occasional band fill – but will be 99% of the time an SWL (with a big ear on the ham bands), then my latest move makes all the more sense. After many great years with the best DXing integrated line of gear (Elecraft K-Line), it was time for something new and different. For these last two – I will visit my neighbor with a nice bottle of whatever he likes!

Since my divorce in 2005/6, I have lived a life of “have only what you absolutely need”, and that thinking came about because one minute I was on 5 acres and a McMansion, the next minute a town away on a small lot. Life sometimes forces you to move fast and carrying extra baggage is just a royal PITA. That thinking morphed into what I think is a great life hack – “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” . . . its good for the soul (and the planet). The classic win-win!

The last two QSO’s to get to HR #1 – if I sat on my KPA-500 and KAT-500 represent money that could be used on something new and interesting, and so that’s where I have arrived. I’m now in my stress free / casual DXer phase – in 7 – 8 years it will be a retirement phase.

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2 Comments on “$1100 a QSO?”

On the topic of so many languages on the radio: I recently read a Census report that mentioned that a whopping 43% of California residents speak a primary language other than English in the home. I was astonished. On the other end of the spectrum is West Virginia, at 2%. Make of that what you will!

I almost made more of a comment about that – and that I believe the demogoggery behind “Make America Great Again” will go down in history as way too little, way too late. I grew up outside of New York City and know that ALL of the metropolitan areas (the Blue Areas) are like this. They also are doing the best economically.

Here is another weird thing – I went to school in a very rural coal mining area of Pennsylvania. Piper Aircraft and Hammermill Paper left that town and unemployment skyrocketed. Then my first job was in Rochester, NY – where Xerox had left and Kodak was king (1981) but after I left in 1982, fell on hard times.

What I know for a fact – “Clean Coal” is total BS as is “US Steel” returning to Pittsburg. Ain’t gonna happen. Small US Manufacturers might happen (i.e. Palstar, Elecraft, Flex), but the bigger job offerings will be gentrification of rust belt and other rural places where people can write code and afford homes. The non coders will look for jobs in the Government or with Amazon (heh heh).

The horse is out of the barn – and it ain’t coming back. We are about to experience a 14% increase in gas prices and my taxes went UP not DOWN. As Bill Clinton once said “its the economy stupid” – and all people – whether you wear a Red or Blue hat will succumb to economics – not demogoggery. Only the loonies on the far Left and far Right will cling to that nonsense – and they will be a super minority.

The filthy rich will always be unscathed as will all of the politicians who have announced they will retire before the Midterms. Us working stiffs have to work for a living – and we are who all of this nonsense affects the most.